1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to systems and methods for simulation and verification of electronic hardware designs. More particularly, this invention relates to systems and methods for performing abstraction to permit more efficient simulation, and more specifically relates to systems, methods and techniques for temporal abstraction in which hardware operation is redefined in terms of transactions.
2. Description of the Art
Abstraction is, in simplified terms, a technique for masking irrelevant detail so that the key elements of a concept or other construct may be more clearly appreciated. In the context of verification of electronic hardware designs using simulation, abstraction is useful because it reduces the amount of work required to perform the simulation, thereby allowing more simulation to be done in a given amount of time. Simulation differs from abstraction because simulation is a repeated activity. In contrast, abstraction only needs to be done once. As a result, abstraction, whether automatic or manual, provides substantial benefit. Abstractions can be classified into four basic types: structural, behavioral, data, and temporal. Structural abstraction removes unneeded structure, for example, gates or registers in the case of hardware design. Behavioral abstraction removes functionality. Data abstraction reduces the range of data values possible. Temporal abstraction removes unneeded time steps during the simulation.